Lynch: My favorite player, Carl Yastrzemski

From SABR member Mike Lynch at The National Pastime Museum on February 24, 2014:

Early on the morning of May 3, 1967, I was born in Brookline Hospital, the same hospital in which my father was born, the doctor having been assisted by the same nurse who helped deliver my dad 22 years before. So it’s no wonder that we shared a love for the same baseball player—Boston Red Sox legend Carl Yastrzemski.

Later that night, Yaz, whose sobriquet was borne out of affection and convenience, went 1 for 3 with a walk and an assist in a heartbreaking 2–1 loss to the California Angels that dropped Boston to 9–8 on the year and kept them out of first place by a game. Yaz had begun his Major League career in 1961, following in the giant footsteps of my father’s childhood hero, Ted Williams.

By the time I entered the world, Yastrzemski had already won a batting title and two Gold Gloves, had been named to three All-Star teams, and had led the American League in multiple offensive categories. He was three weeks into painting his masterpiece 1967 campaign, which would lead to a Most Valuable Player Award, a Triple Crown, and a trip to the World Series.